Lakers edge Celtics in Game 7, win 16th title

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LOS ANGELES(AP) -- Kobe Bryant sprinted after the ball, which
Lamar Odom joyously flung downcourt to burn the remaining
seconds in Game 7 of the NBA finals. With the celebration
starting behind him, Bryant chased it down and then held it
aloft to his teammates.

The Los Angeles Lakers' 16th championship was secure following a
gritty 83-79 victory over the Boston Celtics. Bryant's legs may
have been dead, but he didn't stop running until the buzzer.

The two-time finals MVP has a ring for every finger on one hand
precisely because he never slows down, even with injuries, the
Celtics' defense and his own erratic shot conspiring against
him. That's why this ring will have a special place in his
collection, and this banner in the Staples Center rafters will
loom a little larger than the rest to Kobe.

"I wanted it so, so bad," Bryant said. "On top of that, I was on
E. Man, I was really, really tired, and the more I tried to
push, the more it kept getting away from me."

Out of an unsightly 6-for-24 shooting performance, Bryant led
the Lakers to a sweet repeat with 23 points and 15 rebounds
Thursday night. While he could barely make a shot or even hold
onto the ball at times, Bryant relentlessly drove the lane to
earn nine free throws in the fourth quarter while Los Angeles
erased a 13-point second-half deficit.

The Lakers earned their rings by winning a gritty, grind-it-out
Game 7 for the first time in their franchises' history.

"This one is by far the sweetest, because it's them," Bryant
said after the Lakers beat Boston for the first time in a Game
7. "This was the hardest one by far. I wanted it so bad, and
sometimes when you want it so bad, it slips away from you. My
guys picked me up."

While the basketball in Game 7 wasn't terribly attractive, as
evidenced by the Lakers' 32.5 percent shooting and 12 missed
free throws alongside the Celtics' 15 turnovers and 53-40
rebounding disadvantage, the teams' collective will and
determination still were stirring - and they'll only get more
beautiful with age.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson also has his 11th championship,
matching Boston great Bill Russell's total and possibly putting
a cap on Jackson's remarkable career if he decides to leave the
Lakers. The Zen Master will have trouble walking away from the
chance for a fourth threepeat next year.

"Well, it's done. It wasn't well done, but it was done," Jackson
said. "I thought our defense was terrific. We were able to step
in and play the kind of defense that we've established as a
calling card for this team, and we found a way to generate some
points."

Exactly two years to the day after Boston beat the Lakers by 39
points to clinch the 2008 title, Los Angeles got revenge for
perhaps the most embarrassing loss of Bryant's career - even if
that revenge was as cold as Bryant's jumper.

Bryant said he had to downplay the magnitude of the rivalry
during the series, but he came clean while sitting at the podium
with his daughters, Natalia and Gianna.

"I was just lying to you guys," Bryant said. "When you're in the
moment, you have to suppress that ... but you guys know what a
student I am of the game. I know every series the Lakers have
played in, and I know every Celtics series. I know every
statistic. It meant the world to me, but I couldn't focus on
that. I had to focus on playing."

And when Bryant was asked what the title means to him
personally, he answered without self-censorship: "Just got one
more than Shaq. You can take that to the bank. You know how I
am. I don't forget anything."

As if anybody could forget, Shaquille O'Neal and Bryant teamed
up for three titles from 2000-02, with Shaq winning his fourth
in 2006 with Miami. The Lakers' last two belong to Bryant and
Pau Gasol, who had 19 points and 18 rebounds after a slow start
in Game 7.

Ron Artest added 20 points for the Lakers, who didn't exactly
show a champion's poise while making just 21 shots in the first
three quarters, even hovering around 50 percent at the free
throw line. Los Angeles finished with just 32.5 percent
shooting.

Yet the Lakers' defense slowed Rajon Rondo and the Celtics'
offense to a trickle in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles
reclaimed the lead midway through and hung on with a few more
big shots from Gasol, who had nine points in the period, and a
remarkable clutch performance by Artest, a first-time champion
as the only newcomer to last season's roster.

"I had 20 points, and I still think we did this as a team," said
Artest, whose 3-pointer with 1:01 to play was the Lakers' last
field goal of the season. "We fought together. This was one of
the best games in, I don't even know, man. I don't want to be in
a game like this, where the game can go either way. ... I'm just
like, OK, what did I get myself into?"

He might be into a budding dynasty, with most of the Lakers'
core locked into long-term contracts. With their fifth title in
11 seasons, the Lakers moved one championship behind Boston's 17
titles for the overall NBA lead.

Paul Pierce had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Celtics, who
just couldn't finish the final quarter of a remarkable playoff
run after a fourth-place finish in the Eastern Conference. Kevin
Garnett added 17 points and Rasheed Wallace had 11 before tiring
while starting in place of injured center Kendrick Perkins, but
Boston flopped in two chances to clinch the series in Los
Angeles after winning Game 5 back home.

"We were scratching and clawing, trying to do everything we
could to try to pull this out," said Ray Allen, who had 13
points on 3-of-14 shooting, his legs worn out from chasing
Bryant on defense. "We had an opportunity to win, but it just
didn't go our way down the stretch. I don't think we ran out of
steam. Lady Luck just didn't bounce in our corner. ... There
were a lot of tears, a lot of tears."

The Celtics had never lost a seventh game in the finals. Despite
nursing a lead through most of the night while holding the
Lakers to that ridiculously low shooting percentage, Boston
couldn't close it out on the coast, becoming just the seventh
team to blow a 3-2 finals lead after winning Game 5.

Boston faces even more offseason uncertainty than the Lakers,
with Allen's free agency and coach Doc Rivers' decision atop the
list.

"There's a lot of crying in that locker room," Rivers said. "A
lot of people who care. I don't think there was a dry eye. A lot
of hugs, a lot of people feeling awful. That's a good thing.
Showed a lot of people cared."

The Celtics had much more poise from the opening tip in Game 7,
playing vicious defense that forced Los Angeles to miss 21 of
its first 27 shots. Bryant and Gasol were a combined 6 for 26 in
the first half.

But forget how it looked early on, because history will. Bryant
even did something Jerry West and Magic Johnson never could: He
beat the hated Celtics in Game 7 of the finals.

"Close is not enough," said Glen Davis, whose six points and
nine rebounds were the Celtics' only contributions from their
bench. "You've got to win it. I don't know what's going on with
who's coming back, but I'll be ready when training camp comes
around."

NOTES: The Lakers will hold a parade Monday, with the team
riding floats from Staples Center down Figueroa Street to the
USC campus in downtown Los Angeles. A rally at the Coliseum last
year attracted 95,000 fans, but the Lakers are skipping the
arena in favor of a more interactive celebration. ... Home teams
improved to 14-3 in Game 7 in the finals. No road team has won a
title in Game 7 since 1978.